


String Theory

by par_avion



Category: PIERCE Tamora - Works, Tortall - Tamora Pierce, Tricksters - Tamora Pierce
Genre: Gen, Yuletide, challenge:Yuletide 2007, recipient:NutterZoi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2007-12-25
Updated: 2007-12-25
Packaged: 2017-10-11 17:22:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,455
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/114797
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/par_avion/pseuds/par_avion





	String Theory

**Author's Note:**

  * For [NutterZoi](https://archiveofourown.org/users/NutterZoi/gifts).



  


## String Theory

May 3, 464 H.E.  


Rajmuat in the Copper Islands  


"Taybur discovered some interesting information this morning," Dove told Aly. "It seems that Erdmann Fisk took some few belongings and disappeared without warning either his customers or his lover. Rumor is that he was seen boarding a ship that sailed for Tortall with the tide."  


Aly allowed herself a small smile. " _Taybur_ discovered?" she asked lightly. "I thought that Captain Sibigat was needed with the Queen's Guard, Your Highness? Is he returning to The Game already? Are you looking to replace me as your spymaster so soon? Or perhaps just planning ahead for my maternity leave?"  


"Aly!" Dove exclaimed, "Don't even jest about -- Oh, no you don't. You're trying to distract me." Suspicious, Dove asked, "Did you have something to do with this?"  


Aly allowed, "It's _possible_ that I may have signalled to Tortall's Whisper Man--"  


"Your father--"  


"--that I planned to arrest and deport all of his agents by the end of last month," Aly continued. "I guess Da was just saving me the trouble, not to mention the paperwork. The city is probably also missing a few bartenders, a pickpocket, and an _excellent_ fishmonger." She smiled more broadly. "Anything else?"  


Dove covered her surprise. "No, we're done for today. Tomorrow's intelligence briefing will be longer because Chenaol and Fesgao will be joining us."  


"So, we're meeting in the kitchen, then?" asked Aly with a chuckle. Chenaol was notoriously stubborn, and refused to budge from her position as head cook.  


"And interfere with dinner preparations?" Dove shook her head. "No, we can meet here, there's space enough. Chenaol can make an excuse to the staff -- perhaps a problem with a certain absent fishmonger?" suggested Dove, with a sly smile.  


Aly laughed and left Dovasary to her other duties.  


* * *

Safely behind her office door, Aly frowned. A spy, yes, but she was certain that Fisk had _not_ been one of her father's agents. Rather, she and Taybur both suspected that Fisk's spying was done for Carthak. What would have caused him to leave so suddenly, and how worried should she be?  


A knock at her door interrupted her thoughts. Opened, the door revealed Taybur, and he was bearing gifts. He motioned that he wanted to have this conversation in private, so Aly shut the door, checked the wards, and joined him at the table.  


"I found some things at Fisk's house that I thought you should see." He handed Aly a letter, and a leather pouch. The letter was written in code, but it was one of the many that Aly had memorized, and she didn't bother to hide the ease with which she read it. Taybur didn't know her true identity, but he had long recognized her for a spy.  


"Instructions to return home -- and not to Tortall. Was that your idea, to add the bit about Erdmann boarding a ship headed there?" If so, Aly was grateful, as it gave her an easy way to explain his abrupt departure without alarming the Queen.  


"Well, since several other suspected spies for the Tortallan government have vanished in the last week..." He gestured with his hands, tying the departures together.  


"Good thinking. I'll head over to his shop later and see what I can find there."  


Taybur rose from the table. "You need to look in the pouch before you go anywhere," he said quietly. "I'll see myself out."  


Surprised, Aly hesitated before reaching for the leather container. What was in there that she needed to be alone to see? It was unremarkable on the outside, typical Kyprian design of a type which could be found throughout the city. Inside, however, was another story. Aly drew out the coiled, colored, and knotted threads, and was grateful that she didn't have an audience, because her hands were shaking.  


This string held a message from someone that she knew. Only a few family members and George Cooper's most trusted field agents knew the key to decipher this code. To everyone else it looked like nothing other than a simple piece of string.  


What Taybur did or didn't know about her connections to Tortall was a problem for another day. The message encoded in the knots and colors was setting up a meeting, and Aly was concerned that Fisk's sudden disappearance meant bad news. When she told him last month to recall his agents, her father had implied that he would just recruit new ones -- perhaps the Carthaki's had not approved of Fisk's change of allegiance.  


Aly moved to the wooden trunk and pulled out the false bottom, revealing several disguises. She chose one that she hadn't worn recently -- a stable boy's uniform -- put her hair under a cap, made sure she had her knife, and left a cryptic note for Nawat in case he came looking for her. The former crow would understand what she meant by "My first flock is in danger."  


Aly slipped out of the palace undetected, and it was easy enough to blend in at the stable. It was too risky to take her own mount, so she saddled a palace horse and rode for the meeting place.  


* * *

The sun was setting as Aly headed toward the docks. She would attract less attention dressed as a boy, but better not to be seen at all, so she kept to the long shadows covering the wharf.  


In port cities, her father's agents always meet in bars near the tall ships because there the customers are rowdy and always changing, too busy celebrating their temporary freedom to care about spies. Aly was certain that Windward Seas was the right establishment, so she scoped out the crowd from her seat in the back corner. It didn't take long for someone to walk through the door wearing the Whisper Man's signal on his jacket -- and Aly wasn't the only one who noticed. As the bearded man threaded his way through the bar, Aly got up and "accidentally" bumped into him while whistling the Whisper Man's "I'm a friend; there's trouble afoot" tune. Aly nodded toward the back exit and they melted through the crowd, leaving the pair of toughs behind.  


Aly quickly led the way to the tavern where her horse was boarded. Taking her cap off caused the bearded man to gasp -- and to remove his fake beard.  


"Da!" Aly exclaimed, hugging him. "What are you doing back here so soon! You were just here a few weeks ago."  


George hugged her back. "I never left," he said distractedly. The he shook her, slightly, and said, "Lass, what are you doing here? It's fair dangerous, impersonating a field agent. I thought you were gonna be safe in that palace now that the war is over."  


"Safe is relative, Da." Aly shifted out of his grasp. "I was concerned. This was found at the hastily abandoned house of a former Carthaki spy. I'm thinking he may have been killed...if it was discovered that he'd recently been recruited by the Whisper Man." Aly handed George the leather pouch containing the colored string. "They probably tortured him first. And whoever killed him would then try to make the meeting and attempt to kill the Tortallan agent."  


George opened the pouch and sighed. "You come to that theory based on this?" He put the string in his pocket, and handed Aly the empty pouch with a wistful grin. "Alianne, I should have put you to better use back home. You were born for this, and I'm sorry I didn't see it sooner. You're at the start of an exciting life here. But Mithros! Please, please be careful, particularly while you are pregnant, else you'll turn all my hairs gray and your Ma will go back to calling me Old Man."  


Aly stood and her tiptoes and whispered, "I promise," while hugging him good-bye. She gave a coin to the tavern's stable boy, who had just brought out her horse. "Go home, Da. You can visit your new agents during your trip back here after the baby is born -- assuming I haven't discovered them and had them shipped back to Tortall -- or persuaded them to spy for me."  


George laughed, all tension dispelled by Aly's cheeky humor. "Be nice to your mother when you see her next -- not only is she nervous about you being so far away while pregnant, the voyage over here makes her terribly sick." As he walked away, George stage-whispered "That's the real reason I didn't leave with the Royal Entourage. Couldn't deal with the puking!"  


Aly laughed, put her cap back on, and returned to the palace, where her new life was waiting for her.

 _Fin._

  
Read [posted comments at old Yuletide website](http://yuletidetreasure.org/archive/45/stringtheory_cmt.html).  



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